Seeker, The

by Brindle, J. T.

  Closing the book she returned it to her bag and for a while sat there, watching the old man. ‘I bet you were a handsome fellow once,’ she smiled. ‘Kind too. You can always tell if a person is kind by looking into their eyes.’ Sitting forward on the edge of the chair, she gazed at him. ‘I wonder if you know how much she loves you. How much they both love you. But then why shouldn’t they? You have a way of creeping into people’s hearts – even mine, you old rascal.’ Feeling his hands to make sure they weren’t cold, she tucked them inside the blanket.

  She then went about on tiptoe, tidying the room to help pass the time. After a while, she sat in the chair again, leaned back and closed her eyes.

  It seemed only a minute before she opened them again, when in fact it had been almost half an hour. During that time, Larry had entered the house, peeped in to see her asleep, then gone in search of his wife. It was his raised voice, coming from the bedroom next door, that woke Eileen. Glancing at her watch, she was shocked to find she had slept while on duty. But then it had been a long day and now evening was drawing in, and the night before, she’d been awake with toothache. All the same, she felt embarrassed and guilty. ‘Some nurse I am.’ Checking the old man was still comfortable, she tut-tutted, ‘Sleeping on duty. Isn’t that shameful?’

  Next door, Ida and her husband were engaged in a fierce argument. ‘For pity’s sake, Ida, can’t you see, my heart isn’t in it any more.’

  ‘What does that matter?’ Ida’s voice trembled. She sounded afraid, close to tears.

  ‘Damn and bugger it, Ida! It matters to me! Since the restaurant’s been damaged, I don’t feel I belong here. The business will never be the same. Besides, there are other reasons why I want us to move away. You know that. You’ve always known it. Oh, Ida, can’t you see? I’ve had enough. My nerves are shattered.’

  ‘For God’s sake, Larry, think. What about him? Your father can’t leave. The risks are too great. He belongs here. I belong here, and so do you.’

  Pacing the floor, Larry wrung his hands. ‘How do we know he’s in danger? We could be wrong. For all we know, the best thing for my father is to take him away from here.’ He grew excited. ‘Think of it, Ida! We can go anywhere that takes our fancy. We’ll make a new start. We’ve done it before, we can do it again.’.

  ‘I say no!’

  ‘Be sensible, Ida. Being here has brought us nothing but heartache, can’t you see that? We have to move away, for his sake as well as ours. The restaurant will be up and running in a week. We can put it on the market. It’s sure to fetch a tidy sum. Please, Ida.’

  ‘No! I can’t leave, and neither can he. He’s too old. It would kill him if you moved him now. You can’t do it, Larry. I won’t let you.’

  ‘How can you stop me?’ His voice grew hard, unyielding. ‘You forget, Ida. This is my house, and my restaurant.’

  ‘If you move him, you’ll kill him!’

  There was a long silence, then in a trembling voice he answered, ‘I wonder if that would be so bad. Since we came here, he hasn’t had a minute’s peace. None of us has.’

  Beside herself with rage, she flew at him. ‘You’re mad even to think of moving from here. I won’t go, and I won’t let you take him.’

  ‘I need you, Ida, but be warned. I might be tempted to go without you.’

  She stared at him, momentarily dumbstruck.

  ‘I mean it.’

  ‘What about your father?’ She gave a little smug smile. ‘You’d never cope without me.’

  He regarded her for a while, his mind working, searching for an answer that might convince her, even if it was a lie. ‘I could always put him in a home.’ In his heart, he asked his father to forgive him. The idea of committing his father to strangers sickened him to his stomach. He loved his father, otherwise he would never have listened to Ida and brought him back here in the first place. ‘He needs to confront it,’ that’s what she’d said, and he had believed her. Lately, though, his doubts had grown.

  The row continued.

  Next door, Eileen wasn’t sure what she should do. She toyed with the idea of sneaking out and leaving them to it, but just now, when Larry had yelled how he’d consider putting his father in a home, the old man had opened his eyes and looked straight at her. For one brief second, there was fire in his eyes and she imagined he would speak. Her heart soared, but then she recalled the doctor’s words: Tony Fellowes would never speak again. Just now, though, he seemed so alive, so vital. Somewhere in that frail old body was a young man, virile and strong, and the mind was still alert, whatever the doctor believed.

  Larry’s voice invaded the room. ‘Tomorrow morning I mean to call in an agent and have the business valued. The house too.’

  ‘Please, Larry, don’t do anything rash,’ Ida begged, changing tack. ‘Let me think on it. Give me until tomorrow night and we’ll talk again.’

  He was pleased at that, showing it by crossing the room and kissing her soundly on the forehead. ‘Now you’re being sensible. You won’t regret it, I’ll see to that. We have to stop being afraid and start living for ourselves. Father will be better off too once we’re away from here.’ He strode to the door. ‘Oh, and don’t worry about having him moved. He’s as strong as a lion, or he wouldn’t have lasted this long.’

  ‘He’s lasted this long because I’ve fought to keep him alive.’ Inside she was seething.

  ‘You can’t love him more than I do,’ he argued. ‘And yes, I’m well aware of the care and devotion you’ve given him. But look what it’s done to you.’ He observed her with pity. ‘He’s made you look far older than your years.’

  ‘Maybe you’re right about moving away.’ It took every ounce of her self-control to say that, but she had to keep him sweet until she could decide what must be done. She didn’t care whether he himself went or stayed, but the house was his. She could take him through the courts and fight for her share, but that would take time and energy. Meanwhile, she would lose control, and that was unthinkable.

  Next door, Eileen tried hard not to listen. Over the years she had learned to distance herself from other people’s domestic upheavals. ‘It’s over now,’ she told the old man, who was lying very still, seemingly untroubled. ‘He didn’t mean what he said, don’t worry.’ She never could tell whether he was able to understand. But just now, when Larry had made his threat about putting him away… In all the time she had been nursing the old man, she had never seen that look in his eyes. It made her spine tingle.

  Lost in thought, she was startled when she felt a hand on her shoulder. ‘Did you hear all that?’ Ida was pale, visibly trembling. ‘Did you hear what he said about selling up and moving the old man away from here?’ Her features hardened, her eyes flat and dark, as she glared at the old man. ‘I won’t let him do it. I can’t.’ She was not thinking of herself. It was someone else she spoke for; a woman from her past, a woman she had loved so much it hurt even to think of her. As she looked at the old man, a solitary tear rolled down her face.

  Eileen saw it and comforted her. She didn’t know what to say. A shoulder to cry on, that’s all she could give.

  After a while she felt Ida was quiet enough for her to leave. ‘I know it’s difficult,’ she said, ‘but you must try and get a good night’s sleep.’

  Ida promised she would, but she was lying. As soon as Eileen closed the front door, Ida grabbed the old man by the hair. ‘Don’t think you’ve won,’ she hissed. ‘I’ve come too far to let him ruin it all now. She’s out there, thinking I’ll weaken and she can take you, but she can’t. I’ve built a wall of hatred all round this house and she can’t get through.’ She tugged at his hair until he moaned, his tired old eyes opening to look on her madness.

  She cackled with delight. ‘So you know what I’m saying? You old bastard, I always suspected you understood every word I said.’ Bending closer, she almost touched his face with hers. ‘You’ll stay here and rot before I let her take you away from me, and even when you draw your last breath, I’ll be here,
cursing you all the way to hell!’ When he half-closed his eyes as if in a smile, loathing oozed from her every pore. ‘You haven’t suffered enough. You’re not afraid enough.’ Unpredictable as ever, she let go of his hair and smoothed it down, whispering in the soft, intimate tones of a lover, ‘Before I’m done with you, you’ll be begging me to put an end to it.’

  The hours grew longer, and still she paced the floor, up and down, back and forth, muttering and cursing, wondering what to do. She was frantic, gripped by a fever that burned like a physical pain.

  From his bed, the old man watched. And slept. And watched again. He made no noise, only a deep, agonised rasping as her antics excited and disturbed him.

  Unable to rest, Larry had gone to the study. Here he settled down to deal with a pile of urgent and overdue bills. ‘Money going out, nothing coming in,’ he moaned, thumbing through them. ‘First thing in the morning I’ll have the agent round to value. Now I’ve made the decision, I can’t get rid of this place quickly enough.’ Engrossed in his work, he didn’t hear the soft footsteps outside his door, nor did he see the handle turn and the door open.

  Softly, the footsteps travelled across the carpet; two gloved hands picked up the heavy marble paperweight, raised it high into the air and then down, speeding towards its target.

  In that awful moment before impact, he looked round, his eyes stricken with horror, the scream frozen in his throat.

  The footsteps retreated, and all was as before. Save for the spreading crimson pool on the carpet, and the constant ‘drip, drip’ that sounded oddly comforting in that quiet, still room.

  6

  Libby was frantic. It was Christmas Eve and there was still so much to do. She hadn’t even wrapped the children’s presents, and this year, because she’d been foolish enough to insist on a real tree, she had to keep running the Hoover round to suck up the falling needles.

  The children were unusually boisterous and wouldn’t sit still. Just now when she sent them up to their rooms, they were so excited that Dave had to address them sternly before they settled. On top of all that, her hair was an absolute mess and she had the beginnings of a toothache.

  Prodding the joint with a skewer, she didn’t hear Dave come into the kitchen.

  ‘Penny for them,’ he murmured, sliding his arm round her waist.

  ‘Believe me, they’re not worth a farthing.’ After a busy, tiring day, she was feeling sorry for herself.

  Dave sniffed the air. ‘Something smells delicious. Makes me hungry.’

  ‘You’d better be hungry,’ she warned. ‘Only Jack and his woman are coming but I’ve cooked enough for an army.’ Basting the joint, she returned it to the oven for browning. ‘What time is it?’

  ‘Quarter to eight, I think.’ He frowned, glancing at the clock on the wall. According to that, it was still two thirty. The strange clicking noises were a dead giveaway. ‘Sounds like the battery’s running out.’

  Libby wiped the sweat from her forehead. ‘I know just how it feels.’

  Taking the clock off the wall, he regarded her. ‘Are you OK?’

  ‘They’ll be here in an hour and I haven’t even finished in the kitchen. I need a bath, and you know what my hair’s like if I try and dry it with a hairdryer, I always look like I’ve had a fright.’

  ‘There must be something I can do. After all, it was my idea to ask Jack and his new girlfriend to Christmas supper.’

  ‘I’ll survive.’ In fact Libby was really looking forward to Jack’s company, though she had no idea what to expect of his new girlfriend. ‘I might accept your offer of help,’ she said, ‘if you weren’t a bigger disaster in the kitchen than I am.’

  Feigning indignation, he retorted, ‘Do you think I could manage to lay the dining table without too much damage?’

  ‘Good idea! You’ll find everything in the cabinet.’ As he walked away, she asked, ‘Are the kids asleep yet?’

  ‘They were when I peeped in on them a few minutes ago. Want me to go and check again?’

  ‘By rights they should be unconscious after the hectic day they’ve had. We did a morning’s shopping, Jamie skipped everywhere, and Daisy had him running round in circles. When we got home they stuffed their faces with jelly and ice cream, before helping me dress the Christmas tree.’

  He felt guilty. ‘I’m sorry I had to go in today, sweetheart, but the buyer was going abroad and it was the only time I could get to see him.’ He winked. ‘Looks like a solid sale though. He’s paid his deposit and everything.’

  She was delighted. ‘That’s good. And anyway, you were better off out of the way today. It was woman’s work. Besides, I had to get your present, didn’t I?’

  ‘What did you get for me?’ His dark eyes shone with mischief.

  ‘What did you get for me?’

  His handsome face broke into a grin. ‘All right, point taken.’

  ‘I’m really pleased things are going so well at the agency,’ she said. ‘You always did believe it would do well, even when I had my doubts.’

  ‘It has to do well,’ he replied jovially. ‘I’ve got a family to support, not to mention Christmas trees and trainers with blue stripes and yellow laces.’

  Blowing a hair out of her eyes, she regarded him with a thoughtful look. ‘Who else was in today?’

  ‘Just me. Why do you ask?’

  ‘Oh, I just wondered. I thought maybe your new recruit might have been called in too.’ It was hard to keep the jealousy out of her voice. Next to that young lady, she felt positively dowdy.

  ‘No. Just me.’ In fact he had been tempted to call Cliona in but thought better of it.

  ‘Dave?’

  ‘I thought you wanted me to set the table?’

  ‘Do you think we could go away for a romantic weekend in a few weeks maybe?’

  He laughed. ‘What? With the kids?’

  ‘May has always said she’ll stay over and take care of them if we fancy getting away for a day or two.’

  ‘OK.’ His lazy smile reached her heart. ‘If you’re happy, I’m happy.’ He had reservations about leaving the kids with anyone, even May. But if Libby said it was all right, then it was all right. He trusted her judgement. ‘She’d have her hands full though, and no mistake.’ Whistling, he departed to lay the table.

  Libby smiled to herself, humming along with the tune she could hear him whistling. When she was a girl her father would never allow whistling in the house. ‘It’s bad luck,’ he used to say. It didn’t matter to her though, because she never could whistle properly.

  At quarter to nine, and in spite of her earlier anxieties, Libby had everything under control. The vegetables were cooked to perfection; the joint stood draining in the roaster, and the wine was cooling in the fridge. Dave had set the table, and with the serving hatch open to the dining room, the warm, delicious aroma of dinner filled the air.

  Dave had been ready for a while now. Libby was bathed and dressed, and putting the finishing touches to her auburn hair, which went just where she put it, with not a curl out of place. She stood in front of the long mirror, looking to see whether she had forgotten anything. She twirled with satisfaction and even gave a little joyful whoop. ‘Well, after all the fussing, you made it in time,’ she told herself. ‘So now you can relax.’ Glancing at the bedside clock, she saw that it was still only five minutes to nine. ‘There might even be time for a glass of wine before they arrive.’ With that thought in mind, she went downstairs.

  Dave was in the kitchen, sneaking a taste of the joint. On hearing her come in, he snatched round guiltily, his face lighting with admiration as she walked in. ‘You look stunning.’ The blue dress suited her colouring, and with her wild auburn hair drawn into a mass of curls, she was as pretty as a picture.

  ‘Thank you, my good man.’ She blushed like a schoolgirl.

  Taking the wine out of the fridge, he said, ‘I feel like celebrating. How about it?’

  She nodded. ‘I was thinking the very same. But it will have to be a quick
one. They’ll be here soon and I haven’t dished out the vegetables yet.’

  Dave poured the drinks and they linked arms. ‘To my beautiful wife,’ Dave whispered, sipping out of her glass.

  Taking a sip from his, Libby toasted, ‘To all of us.’ She looked at him then, her eyes bathed in a smile and her love spilling over. ‘I adore you, Dave Walters.’

  He ran his finger over her lips, his gaze drinking her in, wanting her, loving her as he had never loved anyone before.

  The sharp peal of the front door bell made Libby jump. ‘It’s them!’ she cried, breaking away. ‘Let them in, Dave. I’ll follow you in a minute.’

  While Dave went to the front door, Libby put the vegetables in the serving dishes. She could hear Jack’s lilting Irish voice, ‘Ah, that’s a wonderful smell, so it is. Sure, I’m hungry as a horse, so I am.’ There was a pause, before he spoke again, this time sounding nearer. ‘Where is she then, eh? Where’s the lovely Libby?’

  Libby was still scooping vegetables out of the pan when he grabbed her by the waist. ‘Hello, me little darling,’ he said, kissing her soundly. ‘Sure, you’re a sight for sore eyes, that’s what yer are. Ah, just smell the air in here.’ Raising his face, he drew in a long, slow breath. ‘A man could die for that, so he could.’

  As Dave led him away, he pinched a roast potato out of the dish. ‘I’m a peasant, that’s what I am,’ he told his girlfriend, a tiny thing with saucer eyes and blonde hair. ‘I like me food and I like to be pampered, so don’t say you weren’t warned.’ It was obvious he’d had a nip of the good stuff before arriving, but he wasn’t drunk. Jack never got drunk. He had hollow legs.

  When Libby joined them in the sitting room, she thought how smart and handsome Jack looked in a pair of dark trousers and navy jacket, while his girlfriend Patsy was prim and neat in a smock dress and indigo silk blouse. Her blonde hair was loose to her shoulders, and she had a friendly, outgoing disposition. ‘Lovely to meet you, Mrs Walters,’ she greeted Libby with a smile. ‘Jack’s told me so much about you and your husband, I feel I know you both already.’